Editorial:

The Government's resolve is being severely tested by the numbers of companies already folding. Predictions that 10% of the workforce might lose their jobs emerged yesterday, as the retail and hospitality sectors worked through their plans. For many companies the 2 metre social distancing rule is unworkable, and there are growing calls for this to be relaxed.

But I am puzzled, if the 2 metre rule has been properly adhered to during lock down, then where are all these new cases still coming from? There are still over 8,000 new positive tests coming through each week. Of course, in reality we know that many people are not following the rules. I had a contractor visit me yesterday, and it was hard to keep him at the right distance, he just kept stepping closer. You'd think that after 11 weeks of lock down, the message would have gotten through.

If we are to reduce social distancing to 1 metre, then more infections and casualties will follow, may be even twice as many. However, provided that the R number stays below 1, the NHS will cope. This is clearly the gamble that the Government is having to take.

The re-opening of external attractions from Monday, and the introduction of limited social bubbling, are all part of a test to see what the impact will be. Unfortunately, the results of this test won't be clear for 3 weeks, and yet the Government needs to take its next decision well before then.

My prediction is that social distancing will be reduced to 1.5 metres next week, and 1 metre in a month. This is a little frustrating when I have just taken delivery of a 2 metre sign for the Village Hall! Everything is on such a long lead time, that we are having to order weeks in advance. It will be equally frustrating for businesses, who have no certainty how they should be reconfiguring their hospitality premises.

Meanwhile it was confirmed by research yesterday that the virus entered the UK on 1,356 separate occasions at the start of the epidemic. This explains why it took off so quickly. Holiday makers and travellers returning from Italy, Spain and France brought the virus with them. 80% of the initial infections arrived during March, and they started infecting the population from the moment they landed. This was unfortunately the time when the Government was dithering on lock down and quarantine. Those ditherings have cost us dearly.

Nationally:

245 deaths were reported by the Government yesterday taking us to 41,128 across the UK. The numbers of new daily infections increased to 1,003.

Locally:

In Northamptonshire another 4 cases were reported yesterday with the specimen dates being spread back over the last few days. The total number of cases is now 1,586.

The infection levels in East Northamptonshire have gone down, poor reporting again

Daily links (all verified):

And finally . . .

Do you think we should tell them that pubs won't open until 4th July ...

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